Saturday, August 18, 2007

US aid to Africa does more harm than good

I first heard about this in a radio interview with Michael Maren, author of The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity published in 1977. To see a review of the book click here.
Here is more current information about this, where one charity organization is begining to see the light.

...Care, one of the world's biggest charities, has announced that it will boycott the controversial policy of selling tons of heavily subsidised US produced food in African countries. Care wants the US government to send money to buy food locally, rather than unwanted US produced food.
The US arm of the charity says America is causing rather than reducing hunger with a decree that US food aid must be sold rather than directly distributed to those facing starvation. In America, the subsidies for corn in particular, help underpin the junk food industry, which uses corn extracts as a sweetener, creating a home-grown a health crisis.
The farm lobby meanwhile has a stranglehold on Congress, which has balked at making any changes that would interfere with a system that promotes overproduction of commodities.
Critics of the policy say it also undermines African farmers' ability to produce food, making the most vulnerable countries of the world even more dependent on aid to avert famine.

from http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2871490.ece

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

you have a nice blog, a kind of 'other voice'.
sometimes one can hardly imagine of such 'other voices' in west, specially when the huge mainstream media is taken into account.
and the story is not far different here, in Iran (as a sample of east): agains there is a prevailing one voice, one which (whether deliberately or not) calls for a sacred war. indeed there are too many people who dont want a war... but where is that 'other voice'? I dont know.
Wish you the best, and you are in my weblog's list, though you cant expect too many audience from my blog.
wish you the best

RandallJones said...

Thanks Mohammad. I have added your blog to my list of websites. Just like you, my audience is not too large and I don't know if you will get many visitors from my blog.

Anonymous said...

haha..NO!the U.S. in Iraq does more harm than good.
For 1: terrorism is worse
2: Our country has killed thousands of innocent people in Iraq.
I DONT THINK ANYONE WANTS TO HERE THESE RIDICULOUS "OTHER VOICE"
thats bull****and no one wants to here your yappin'

Anonymous said...

yeah its me again the Anonymous person i misunderstood and i was way off topic but seriously people dont lisen to the bottom of your heart believing.they look for "is it good for our country" type nonsense and since it is they aint carin' if its harm to africa.Sorry to burst your dream words bubble but truth is the gov. doesnt care.Dont worry I use to be the dream girl too with all these ideas and got no where.IN FACT, iLOST MY FAITH AND LOVE.THE GOV DOESNT HAVE A HEART. I AM AGAINST THE U.S. TROOPS IN IRAQ AND THE GOV DOESNT CARE EITHER. BUT YEA ANYWAY IM 14 AND OF COURSE BEING IN LOVE AND GETTING MY HEART BROKE BY THAT GUY IS KILLING ME.WHO CARES RIGHT?EXACTLY WHAT THE GOV. THINKS ABOUT THIS ISSUE AND THE SAME WAY MY "USED TO BE"BOY THOUGHT ABOUT MY FEELINGS FOR HIM.WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE ARE SO UNBELIEVE-ABLY HEARTLESS.WELL THATS HOW I LOST ALL MY FAITH.NO ONE CARES, OR DOES BUT ONLY FOR A WHILE AND TO A SURTTEN POINT.AFTER THAT POINT IS CROSSED AND GONE,ITS ALL OVER. AND THEN U GO THROUGH THE TOUBLE R'S STAGE.THE REALIZE AND REGRET STAGE. U REALIZE HOW STUPID U ARE TO EVER EVEN THINK HE CARED AND THE GOV.AND REGRET THE FAITH U ONCE HAD.
WELL NICE TALKING TO U,KINDA AND LIFE IS A BUNCH OF S***T ANYWAYS

Anonymous said...

i dont want no backstabers talking about this comment either so watch ur mouth(s)

RandallJones said...

Thanks Anonymous for visiting my blog.
Sorry about what happened with you and your boyfriend, Things may seem gloomy and hopeless now, but things will get better.
The same with what is going on politically, around the world. I know sometimes we feel like nothing will change so there is no point in trying to do anything about it. But we still have to try.